I get and adore the idea of all these small cameras with low resolution sensors and the embrace of vibes more than anything else. And there’s something unique and fascinating about the Aries CharmShot Mini. First off, it looks like chapstick — to be more specific, in my notes I called it the “Lipstick camera.” No one is going to take it seriously and if anything, they’re all just going to sit there wondering with curiosity about it.
Let me say this right off the bat, the photos are 12MP and have more detail than something like the Kodak charmers and even the Yashica Funtastic. But it’s still not going to be winning tons of awards here for image quality. The photos are detailed enough in good lighting. Once that goes away though, there’s no flash or anything to bolster the scene.
The Aries Charmshot is pretty simple overall. There’s a power button, exposure button, filter settings, video, a microphone recording setting, and a head that twists around to get photos in different ways. Then there’s also a screen. It charges via USB-C and then also has a slot for a Micro SD card. That’s it.
In my continued writing of this camera, I could hear my best friend’s voice in the back of my head calling this a gimmick. And so that lead me to Google to look up exactly what that word means. Merriam Webster cites one of the definitions as, “a trick or device used to attract business or attention.” That’s where I different intensely with the voice of my best friend.
If you’re buying the Aries Charmshot Mini, you’re not buying it expecting the quality of the Sony a1 II. If you are doing that, then you’re an idiot: and I’m not going to soften that blow. I don’t think anyone buying a camera like this will be deceived into a trick. And I’d make a solid argument that the Fujifilm X100Vi is far more of a gimmick as it was specifically targeted to be purchased by social media people and artificially limited to only have so much of it produced at a time to increase the hype and demand for the camera. More importantly, considering that the Phoblographer reports on the state of the used market, and this camera can go for a lot more money used than brand-new, I’d say that’s more of a gimmick because of the hype. But the Charmshot? No. Even the Kodak Charmera doesn’t go for a lot of money on the second-hand market.
In this situation, Fujifilm and their fanboys are very much the wolf who cries boy.
The other part of the definition about a gimmick being used to attract business: well, isn’t that modern capitalism? Don’t you buy a Sony camera because you just like the hype?
I think that the people who hate this camera are the same people who do stuff for social media that don’t understand the first thing about cameras. Not every camera is for them. Social media influencers and even some journalists are angry that Leica M cameras don’t shoot video. But that camera isn’t designed for them. Same with Hasselblad cameras.
This isn’t designed for pro photographers. It’s designed for fun in a way that you define it.
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